Veteran Trader Questions XRP’s Support Levels as Market Tests Critical Price Zones

A Direct Challenge to the XRP Community

Peter Brandt, a well-known veteran trader in the cryptocurrency space, recently stirred up conversation among XRP holders by sharing a detailed weekly chart analysis that raised serious questions about how far the digital asset might fall before finding solid support. Rather than presenting XRP as enjoying a strong, clean breakout with momentum firmly on its side, Brandt’s analysis suggests something more uncertain—a market that’s still struggling to prove whether the gains made in late 2024 can actually hold up as reliable support levels moving forward. His post on X (formerly Twitter) was addressed directly and somewhat playfully to “Ripplettes,” a nickname often used for XRP supporters, asking them pointedly: “How deep into support do you Ripplettes think price could go?” This wasn’t just casual market commentary; it was a challenge that forced XRP traders to confront the technical reality that their preferred asset might have further to fall before finding a bottom. The question matters because Brandt isn’t just any trader—his decades of experience in technical analysis give his observations significant weight in trading communities, and when he highlights potential weakness in a chart, serious traders take notice.

Breaking Down the Technical Structure

The chart Brandt shared showed XRP paired against USDT on Binance, displayed on a weekly timeframe that captures the broader structural movements rather than short-term noise. What the chart revealed was a story that many XRP bulls might find uncomfortable. It traced XRP’s journey from a long, flat base that persisted through most of 2023 and well into 2024, followed by a sharp, vertical breakout in late 2024 that took many traders by surprise with its intensity. After that explosive move, the price entered a wide consolidation phase—essentially a sideways trading range where buyers and sellers battled for control—before eventually pulling back. The most significant feature Brandt highlighted was a key level around $1.55, which appears to be central to understanding XRP’s current technical setup. In the language of technical analysis, this area represents a “former range-reclaim”—meaning it’s a price level that previously served as resistance, then became support after being broken through, and now is being tested again from below. The problem for XRP supporters is that the price has already slipped below this crucial $1.55 zone, which changes the technical picture considerably. Once a market loses a price level that previously provided support, technical analysts typically start looking lower to identify the next areas where buyers historically showed up in force to absorb selling pressure.

The Support Levels That Define the Debate

Brandt didn’t just present a chart and leave traders guessing—he made his analysis interactive by including a poll with four specific options for where XRP might find support, each representing a different technical scenario and level of bearishness. The first option, “Bottom is in,” represented the most optimistic view that XRP has already found its low point and is ready to resume its upward trajectory. The second option identified support around $0.93, which isn’t a random number but appears to correspond with a descending trendline that originates all the way back at XRP’s 2021 high—a line that has technical significance because it connects major swing highs and potentially acts as support when tested from above. The third option pointed to support around $0.72, a significantly deeper level that would represent a much more serious retracement. This $0.72 area aligns with the ascending trendline that defined XRP’s base structure during 2023 and 2024, essentially the rising support line that preceded the late-2024 breakout. Reaching this level would constitute a full retest of the entire breakout structure, essentially taking price back to where the rally began and testing whether that original foundation still holds. The fourth and most extreme option in the poll was “slightly above zero,” which while partially tongue-in-cheek, acknowledges the reality that in crypto markets, even established assets can experience devastating crashes if conditions deteriorate severely enough.

Understanding the Failed Breakout Pattern

What Brandt appears to be highlighting with this analysis is a pattern that technical traders know well but never like to see in their positions: a failed or at least seriously stressed range breakout following a large advance. The sequence of events tells a concerning story. XRP broke out of a long accumulation-style range—the kind of base-building that usually suggests strong underlying demand and sets the stage for sustained moves higher. It then rallied aggressively, pushing above $3 and generating significant excitement among holders who had waited patiently through the long consolidation period. However, instead of continuing higher or even holding near those elevated levels, XRP formed what Brandt’s chart suggests is a wide, top-like consolidation with multiple failed attempts to extend the rally further. This is the kind of price action that makes technical analysts nervous because it suggests that buyers who pushed price higher may have exhausted themselves, while new buyers at elevated levels aren’t materializing in sufficient numbers to sustain the advance. The subsequent pullback below the $1.55 level—which had served as support during the consolidation phase—adds weight to the concern that this breakout might not have the structural integrity that bulls had hoped for. For traders who bought during or after the breakout, this presents an uncomfortable question: was the late-2024 surge just a temporary spike driven by specific catalysts or news events, or does it represent a genuine shift in XRP’s market structure that will eventually reassert itself?

What Bulls Need to See for Recovery

For XRP supporters hoping for a relatively quick recovery and resumption of the uptrend, the entire technical outlook hinges on what happens around that $1.55 area that Brandt highlighted. If the price can reclaim this level and, more importantly, hold it on the weekly timeframe—meaning closing weekly candles above it rather than just briefly touching it during intraweek volatility—the chart would begin to look less like a failed breakout and more like a deep but ultimately successful retest of a breakout zone. Such a reclaim would send an important message to the market: that buyers are still willing to defend the former range boundary and that the post-breakout gains haven’t been completely surrendered. It would suggest that the recent weakness might just be a normal, healthy pullback within an ongoing uptrend rather than the beginning of a more serious structural breakdown. However, without that reclaim, the technical picture remains concerning, and the lower support levels that Brandt outlined in his poll become increasingly relevant targets. If price continues to trade below the $1.55 shelf, it means the market hasn’t yet found a level where buyers are willing to step in with sufficient conviction to reverse the decline, and technical traders will naturally start looking to the next historical support zones lower in the chart—first the $0.93 area defined by that descending trendline, and then potentially the deeper $0.72 zone that represents the old base structure.

Market Sentiment Reflected in Poll Results

The results of Brandt’s poll, while not scientifically rigorous, offered an interesting snapshot of how divided traders are about XRP’s near-term prospects and where they think the pain might end. With 364 votes cast by the time the screenshot was taken, the distribution was remarkably even across the most bearish scenarios. “Bottom is in” captured 27% of votes, representing traders who believe the worst is already over and XRP is ready to bounce. Interestingly, “Support at .72xx”—the much deeper retracement level—also received exactly 27% of the vote, showing that a substantial portion of participants see significantly more downside ahead. Perhaps most striking, “Slightly above zero”—the most catastrophic scenario—also drew 27% of votes, which even if partially made in jest, indicates either deep skepticism or at least acknowledgment that crypto markets can deliver unexpected and severe drawdowns. The more moderate option of “Support at .93xx” received 19% and was marked as Brandt’s selected choice in the screenshot, suggesting this might be his working hypothesis for where XRP finds its next meaningful support. At the time of press, XRP was trading at $1.3941 and hovering around the 200-week exponential moving average—a long-term technical indicator that often serves as major support or resistance and represents the average price over roughly four years of weekly data. The fact that XRP is testing this particular moving average adds another layer of significance to the current price action, as the 200-week EMA has historically been an important level for many cryptocurrencies during both bull and bear markets. Whether XRP can hold above this long-term average may well determine whether Brandt’s more moderate support targets come into play or whether the market finds buyers at current levels and begins building a foundation for recovery.